Economically, the energy sector has been in the doldrums for years now.But for investors, it’s been anything but boring.That’s because during the long cyclical downturn, energy prices have been fairly volatile. Check out this price graph for crude oil over the past 20 years.The collapses in 2008 and 2014 stand… Read More

It’s been a tense time for the stock market, which is richly valued and so vulnerable to any sort of bad news.But today, good news arrived to send us into the weekend feeling a bit more relaxed.(I’m not even going to comment on last night’s National(s) tragedy. There’s always next year.)First,… Read More

Big day in my household.First: Game Five tonight in the National League Division Series … Go Nats!Second: Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Go Bob! (I’m a big fan.)The thing is, Dylan doesn’t care much about awards. In that sense, he reminds me of Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch… Read More

Baseball, football, politics – I understand there are some serious distractions this week.On the financial front, just this afternoon the Fed released minutes of the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting at which three members dissented from the decision not to raise rates. The minutes revealed that “several members” supported… Read More

Alcoa, the aluminum giant, kicked off the third-quarter earnings season this morning by laying an egg: revenue and earnings were lower than expected.A bellwether company for the industrial sector, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was down about 10% in early afternoon after posting earnings of 32 cents per share, vs. analysts’ consensus… Read More

The U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in September, another solid number.As expected, stocks fell.  That’s because investors interpret continued employment growth to mean that the Fed is more likely to raise rates in December. As we’ve discussed, what’s good for the economy can be bad for stocks if… Read More

Good news for the economy today – which could be bad news for stocks.But that could be good news for investors!What do I mean? Let’s dive in.Unemployment claims fell to a surprisingly low 249,000 for the week ended Oct. 1 , below analysts’ forecast of 265,000 and the second-lowest… Read More

About a month ago, I told you that the start of NFL football season is my favorite time of the year.But if anything competes for my sport obsession affection, it’s October baseball.Starting tonight, fans of 10 teams, including my own Washington Nationals, will experience the exquisite agony that is playoff… Read More

As Investing Daily Editorial Director Robert Frick discussed with me last week, investors often do the wrong thing—not because they’re dumb or ill-informed, but because our brains aren’t wired for investing. Making money in the markets can happen in many different ways, but every path to profits has a… Read More

Lots of folks think global bankers got off easy after the financial crisis.But this week the tide started to turn.Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s most powerful financial institutions, is under all sorts of pressure, and that could have serious repercussions for Europe’s already troubled economy. The shares took a… Read More